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Dan Uggla
Daniel Cooley Uggla (born March 11, 1980) is a All-Star for the . Uggla finished third in the 2006 voting behind teammate and winner , and of the , but won the Players Choice and NL ROY awards. Dan also has his own fan club at Dolphin Stadium who call themselves "Uggla's Ugglies." Biography Personal life and early career Uggla was born in , the son of Elizabeth Armistead (Cooley) and John Carl Uggla. His last name means "owl" in Swedish, and he descends from the untitled branch of an old Swedish noble family.He played little league baseball in Columbia Tennessee for Tennesee tire and was coached by Wayne Harvey and Brent Gray two local little league coaches in Columbia. Mr. Harvey still lives in Columbia and works for CSX railroad. After graduating from Columbia Central High School in , in 1998, Uggla attended the where after his junior season he was named an by , , and . Uggla is married to Tara. They have two children: a son, Jackson (born March 30, 2006), and a daughter (born June 5, 2008). Professional career Minor leagues Drafted by the in the 11th Round (338th overall) of the , Uggla spent five seasons in the Diamondbacks organization, including a year with the short season-advanced team, the in Yakima, Washington. He amassed a .276 career minor league , .341 , and .443 , to go along with 64 s, 311 , and 62 s. Although he was 25 years old, which would make him the same age as many AAA players, and moderately successful in 2005, he never advanced past the AA level. Uggla was left off the in , and the selected him in the . Florida Marlins Starting the season with the , Uggla would get his first major league hit just one day later when he singled off pitcher ; his first was on April 13 against starter ; his first was a steal of against the on April 21. Following the 2006 season, Uggla worked out at D1 Sports Training in Nashville, TN. Uggla was named to the on July 2, 2006, as a reserve; he is believed to be the first player in history to be selected for the All-Star Game in the same season in which he had been a Rule 5 pick. On September 15, 2006, Uggla hit his 25th home run, breaking 's record for most home runs by a rookie second baseman. Because he received less publicity as a prospect than some of his fellow rookies in , such as , , and , Uggla's display of power in the majors and his selection to the National League All-Star team caused him to suddenly draw more attention. Throughout his rookie season, due to the many mispronunciations of his last name, Marlins television announcers and have exclaimed, "And his name is... DAN UGGLA!!", when Uggla hit a home run. That continues through . Uggla finished his rookie season with 27 homers and 90 runs batted in. He won numerous rookie awards, including the Players Choice NL ROY award and . The Marlins finished Uggla's second season in last place. Uggla finished the year with a .245 batting average, caused mainly by slumps in April and September. However, he did surpass his rookie home run total, hitting 31 home runs and knocking in 88 runs. Uggla is considered media friendly. He has hosted in the past with several of his teammates. He also appears weekly on Sirius' Mike & Murray Show (hosted by and Mike Yam on channel 123) every week during the 2008 baseball season. On May 10, 2008 Uggla hit his first career in the fourth inning of the game against the off . On May 25, 2008 Uggla set a Marlins record for most home runs for a Marlins in any month (12) passing . On June 11, 2008, about a month after his first grand slam, he hit a grand slam off to defeat the 6-2 at . The rising star emerged in 2008, named to the at , as well as opting to take part in the . Uggla hit six home runs in the first round of the derby, two on the first two balls. Uggla finished fifth, tied with . In the All-Star Game, Uggla committed two consecutive errors on playable balls in the 10th inning that appeared to end the National League's hopes of victory, but those errors did not result in runs. He committed a third error in the bottom of the 13th, making him the first player with three errors in a single All-Star Game. Uggla also struck out three times, and ground into a . On September 28, 2008 Dan Uggla hit the last home run ever at . Statistics See also * References External links * Dan Uggla on the Fish@Bat Florida Marlins Wiki